Body modification is certainly unique to humans and, in one form or another, has been practised for as long as 30,000 years by our species’ earliest ancestors.

Early Origins of Body Piercing
Aboriginal Australians practised penile sub-incision and elongating of the labia. The pre-Egyptian, Nubian civilisation elongated their skulls and used a simple technique to make tattoos. Later, ancient Egyptians practised ear piercing while ancient South American cultures, like the Mayans and Aztecs, ritually pierced their tongues for blood offerings.
Native North American tribes, and the Inuit of what is now Canada, used lip piercings and wore bone jewellery, which has now been reinvented as the labret stud. They also used ear piercing as a status symbol, where even the act of piercing the ear was a celebrated ritual that was undertaken at great cost to the piercee; so showing how wealthy the piercee was.
The peoples of the pacific islands have practised the piercing of ears, noses, genitals and lobe stretching for generations. The men of Borneo, for example, would pierce the Ampallang, as did the men in the early history of the Filipino people, while the women of Borneo (and central Africa) practised piercing and stretching of the labia in an effort to attract a suitable husband. (Read more..)